PENTSTEMON SPECIOSA. 
(SHOWY PENTSTEMON.) 
CLASS. ORDER. 
DIDYNAMIA. ANGIOSPERMIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
SCROPHULARIACE^. 
Generic Character. — Vide vol. iv. p. 243. 
Specific Character. — Plant an herbaceous perennial, evergreen. Stems numerous, from two to three 
feet in height. Leaves variable ; radical ones spatulate, inclining to the earth ; stem-leaves sessile, 
linear- oblong, obtuse, slightly channelled down the centre, perfectly smooth. Corolla bright azure- 
coloured, with a prominent naked throat, and a sterile, elongated, beardless filament. 
Perhaps the genus Pentstemon is, on the whole, one of the greatest boons 
conferred upon our gardens by the discovery of the New World. The attention of 
cultivators has however been too long and too exclusively occupied with the hybrids 
obtained from some of the less showy kinds, to the neglect of such as are more 
decidedly ornamental. This consideration has caused us to publish the accom- 
panying plate of one of the choicest and most valuable species yet introduced. 
P. spedosa was first known to British collections about the year 1826. It is 
one of the most worthy fruits of the lamented Douglas's labours on the North 
American continent. From the era of its original appearance in this country, 
to the present time, many thousand plants have been raised and distributed both by 
public and private individuals and bodies ; but it does not appear to have created 
that admiration which its striking beauty is calculated to inspire in the breast of 
every lover of Nature's beauties. In only one nursery establishment (Messrs. 
Young's, Epsom) have we ever seen it cultivated, either abundantly or successfully, 
and from the garden of these gentlemen we had our drawing taken in June, 1838. 
There are few general culturists able to grow the scarcer species of this genus to 
any state approaching the perfection they attain under the care of some two or 
three individuals, who, having investigated their habits, understand their pecu- 
liarities, and accommodate thereto the treatment they bestow. It is to this almost 
universality of failure, that the rarity of these most delightful plants is mainly due ; 
since they are not only reduced in number by actual loss, but, owing to the general 
